A roofer who joined the army reserves seeking a challenge will receive the
Queen's Gallantry Medal after risking his life to save colleagues when their
vehicle slid into a canal.

Rifleman Ben Taylor was on his first operational tour in Afghanistan when he found himself responsible for orchestrating the rescue of his fellow troops from the submerged vehicle.

The 21-year-old, who signed up as a reservist when he was 17, said: "I fancied a challenge. I didn't really think about active service at the time, but my mate did Herrick 14 and I thought I might as well give it a try. I put my name down for operational tours and Herrick 17 turned up."

He is among some 117 servicemen and women recognised in the Operational Honours list, who will be honoured at an Investiture ceremony in Buckingham Palace later this year.

Rfn Taylor, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, was a top cover gunner in a Mastiff armoured vehicle, which was covertly inserting a sniper team into an Afghan national army checkpoint in Helmand province when it rolled down a three-metre high bank into the canal, coming to rest on its roof, half submerged in water.

He was thrown from the hatch and trapped between the armour on the vehicle and its body, with the only way to escape to take off his body armour.

As the rest of his crew were trapped inside, he was swept away by the current and - despite suffering a back injury - swam and waded back to the vehicle to help his colleagues.

"The turret was underwater, submerged, as the vehicle was upside down. It was half full of water and was filling up, so I was trying to get the lads out.

"I was pretty much by myself. I knew I had to help them but I had no protection or anything, no weapon, no body armour.

"I went back in through the turret and got a pistol, then came back through. The only way out for them was the same way, but they were getting stuck by their body armour so they had to take it off and one by one come out through the turret."

Rfn Taylor repeatedly dived down to help guide the men out through the tunnel underwater and to the surface in a rescue effort that took about 40 minutes.

Despite being the youngest and least experienced person there, he found himself taking control of the situation .

"I'm not a leading man, I'm just one of the boys, but it was just natural instinct to help get them out," he said.

Rfn Taylor injured his lower back in the incident and had to be flown home early.

He said: "I didn't feel it myself there and then, but when I got back to my patrol base it was giving me really bad pain. I had to lie down for periods of time. It felt like putting a metal bar around my back."

He was flown to Camp Bastion and later had to finish his tour early, serving four-and-a-half months instead of six.

"It was my first tour and I wanted to do the full tour," he said.

He has still not been able to return to work as a roofer because of his injury.

Rfn Taylor now hopes to recover enough to either continue his work, or possibly become a full-time member of the armed forces.

His citation hails his "immense physical courage and determination ... risking his own life to rescue his colleagues".

But the 21-year-old, who said he was still in shock about his award, insisted: "We did it as a team, not just me. I'm glad I have done something but it was basically just teamwork, I'm just glad they got out."